Petaluma Uber driver loses consciousness, passengers jump from car

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A Wednesday afternoon Uber ride went tragically awry when a driver lost consciousness and lost control of his car on Highway 101 outside Cotati, causing his two passengers to leap out of the moving vehicle, authorities said. The driver later died.

The 2009 Toyota Camry was traveling around 1:30 p.m. on northbound 101 near Highway 116 when driver John Tobin, a 50-year-old Petaluma resident, suddenly showed symptoms of a heart attack, officials said.

After coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the roadway, the driver’s foot came off the brake and the car began rolling toward the shoulder, said Captain Bill Adams of the Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District.

The Camry’s two passengers then made the split-second decision to jump out of the car — which, fortunately for them, never got up to much speed before it wound up in a ditch.

“That was at really slow speeds, a couple miles per hour, and so the two occupants jumped out of the slow-moving car,” said David Derutte, a spokesman for CHP Santa Rosa.

One passenger scraped her knee in the incident, and there was no damage to the car, officials said.

Emergency crews took Tobin to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is still determining a cause of death.

“We are devastated by this news and our hearts go out to John’s family during this tragic time,” said Uber spokeswoman Carly DeBeikes. “Our thoughts are with the riders involved and their families as well.”

Gwendolyn Wu is a reporter who covers breaking news in San Francisco. Prior to joining the Chronicle staff, she wrote for the Santa Barbara Independent and San Francisco magazine. She is originally from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018. Wu is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. Her interests include testing new recipes and exploring used bookstores.